It’s a Monday morning which means it’s weekend sports wrap time and with the ICC Cricket World cup under way, the world of sport is even more exciting than it was last week! Let’s get some of those World Cup results from the weekend, as well as FA Cup action, golf news, and World Series Rugby 7’s.
Brad K
Weekly Roundup – 13 Feb ’15
Join Lady Lee and Brad as they chat about some of the week’s trending stories. Sony and Marvel seem to have found harmony and Spider Man will be joining Thor, the Hulk and others in the Marvel movie universe. We’ve got the down low on Grammy’s 2015, as well as the South African State of the Nation Address red carpet event’s sharpest dressers and those who should be ashamed of themselves!
Taylor Mason and Paquito
One of the many things in this world that simply blow my mind, is the art of ventriloquism. The voices, the personalities, the comedy – I love it!
There are great ventriloquists out there, but when it comes to good clean fun and a barrel of laughs, you don’t need to look much further than Taylor Mason. He has bags full of great character, and here’s a look at his smallest one, Paquito! Taylor is also a great musician and often makes musical comedy part of his acts. Let’s check in for a quick visit with Taylor Mason and Paquito
Represent – Trevor Kalimashima
We love our 1Africa fans. When we create articles to generate hope, encouragement, or just to make you laugh out loud, we get a thrill when you share your thoughts and opinions. So, in a huge drive to ensure you never feel like a ‘number’, or an icon in the comments section, let us introduce REPRESENT. This is an opportunity to express yourself, and have your voice heard. Love to talk about sport, your faith, politics or music? We say YES to all of the above and we’d love to have that conversation with YOU! REPRESENT is your time to have your voice heard, to tell us about your life, your loves, your work or your hobbies, and of course, to send that SHOUT OUT to your friends!
Are you seeing yourself as the next 1Africa friend to REPRESENT? Simply send us an SMS that starts with the words “I want to REPRESENT” followed by your name, your contact number and your home country, to +27 782 785 300 or you can leave those same details in the comment section below.
Want to hear how it’s done? Let’s check out what our man, Trevor Kalimashima from Zambia has to say about his home country, God and being an engineer.
Of Grace and Figs
Grace. Apart from being the name of someone’s sister, grace is a concept that is understood by many, but appreciated by few. It’s clearest definition is: ‘Undeserved favour’ or ‘Getting what you don’t deserve’. It’s something we need and it’s something we need to give. People hurt us, it happens, and it’s our choice to forgive or not; to withhold grace or to give it. You’re wounded by their words, but you extend the grace to accept an apology or to throw it back in their faces. It’s a powerful position, because you could stay hurt, or hurt back. Grace is really big when you view it like that. The Bible speaks of grace so many times, and in one place, in the book of Romans, Paul writes about God’s grace being present where there is sin. Where sin abounds, grace abounds. Where God sees our mistakes, He offers the undeserved favour of His forgiveness, as a practical expression of that grace. It truly is amazing, just like the hymn suggests!
Often times we read the new testament (perhaps the whole Bible?) and find things we just can’t get our heads around. Tough concepts that seem so confusing. Jesus helped his disciples out in Luke 13 with a story that speaks about grace. Jesus was talking to them about whether bad things happen to good people because of their sin, and Jesus says no. He wants to stress the importance of acknowledging that our lives are wrecked by our sin and bad choices and that we need to acknowledge our need to be forgiven; the need to accept God’s grace. He then tells them this, the story of grace and figs:
A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’
We deserve to be ‘cut down’! It’s right there, in the parable. But we aren’t. We are given another chance. Jesus wants his disciples to know the importance of making that first decision to accept the offer of God’s grace. And now it’s a reminder for us too. We are given the freedom to choose, but one day the time to choose will be up, and we simply don’t know when that time will be; we simply don’t! Don’t delay to receive the gift of God’s grace, extended to you. I love that there’s time offered, and interestingly, grace is extended to followers of Jesus too, to use opportunities to share the Truth with others. The grace is everywhere and should never be abused. Saying stuff like “I’ll do it when I’m older’ or ‘it’s not for me right now’ sounds like the need for this grace is not fully understood. Look for opportunities to give grace, and never miss out on the opportunity given to you to receive it, and anyway – it’s free!
Weekend Sports Wrap – 9 Feb ’15
Mondays mean it’s time for our Weekend Sports Wrap and we bring you results from the AFCON 2015 final, scores from the weekend’s English Premier League action, as well as 6 Nations rugby and some Cricket World Cup warm up match results. Grab a snack, and sit back and get up to date.
AFCON 2015 Final
Cote d’Ivoire are AFCON 2015 champions after beating Ghana 9-8 on penalties. In house it feels like a case of ‘I told you so’ as I had my heart set on seeing Algeria lift the trophy and most others were telling me from the start it would be the Mighty Elephants. It must be said, however, that although all respect must go to the Ivorians for their victory, the Ghanaians did look the better team out there. Penalty shootouts continue to be a very tense affair and the decider of too many titles for my liking. All the effort put into the 90+ minutes seems to come to naught and it’s all about the keeper and a completely different set of footballing skills. Be that as it may, Yaya Tore got to raise the AFCON trophy last night and celebrate with a team that last won an AFCON final back in 1992.
There is very little to speak about concerning the match itself, that had few shots at goal, and Ghana came really close in the 25th minute with a superb strike from the brilliant Christian Atsu. Ghana seemed the more adventurous of the two teams and played more attractive football. The Ivorian defense was tested and where shown to be heroic, on a night when only being like a brick wall was ever going to be acceptable. It was great to see Ghana captain and star striker Asamoah Gyan on the park, after a scary start to his stay in Equatorial Guinea. He passed a late fitness test to be in what was called a ‘dream West Africa final’. Ivory Coast also made a few changes for the game, one being the inclusion of goalkeeper Boubacar Barry, at the expense of Sylvain Gbohouo and what a night for Barry, with photos of him being carried on shoulders, appearing all over the internet. And rightly so!
The final moved to the irritatingly popular penalty shootout, that started atrociously for the Ivorians, missing their first 2 attempts and it seemed they might never recover. It went down to 22 shots at goal before Barry stepped up to defend against a shot from his counterpart, Razak Braimah, which he did with consummate ease. He then stepped up to take what was to be the final penalty shot, a face dripping with perspiration and rain, totally focused and determined and did not disappoint. I couldn’t even imagine the pressure he felt but he didn’t even waver in his professionalism and sent his team, their supporters and, no doubt, his entire football mad nation into pure hysteria! It’s been 22 years since they held that AFCON trophy aloft, but Yaya Toure and his men from The Ivory Coast, got to hold it aloft and have their names printed forever in the history books of African football.
Although on the losing team, AFCON 2015 awards went to Ghana’s Andre Ayew for top scorer, and Christian Atsu was judged to be the tournament’s Most Valuable Player for his sterling displays across the tournament. And to prove that Ghana won everything except the final, Afriyie Acquah took honouors for man of the match.
Do you agree with the sentiments of many, that Ghana were the better team, or are you thrilled to see the Mighty Elephants hold that beautiful AFCON trophy; we’d love to hear from you.
You can see video highlights of the final here, thank to Supersport.com.
Weekly Roundup – 6 Feb 2015
We can’t help but get excited about bringing you up to date with what’s been hot this week. We’ve got top trending stories and news just out that you simply have to know about.
Lady Lee and Brad bring you news on Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston’s daughter; Katie Perry is giving Glu Mobile goosebumps and they’re seeing dollar signs; and YouTube has a brand new piece of viewer functionality. Check out these stories and more on our 1Africa Weekly Roundup.
AFCON 2015 – Feb 2015
I have so many mixed feelings about what went down last night in Malabo. I was so excited as I looked forward to 90 minutes of football, mostly because we all know how much this semi final spot meant to the host nation of Equatorial Guinea. They went into the last 4 for the first time in their history and with the home fans in support, who knew what might go down. Let’s be honest, a win against Ghana would have been a thing to behold and against all the odds, but that’s what makes football so exciting. Belief and a passionate crowd behind you can lift your game to unrecognisable heights, and the dream was alive for most of the first half, wasn’t it? And then things went south for the team of Equatorial Guinea, as well as their fans’ reputation and you could see shame in the faces and the behaviour of the home team’s players. But more on that in a moment.
The first half began at a quick pace and it seemed like 1 goal would all we’d see, if we were lucky, because neither team was giving an inch with great runs up the flanks and down the middle, coming from both teams. Javier Balboa looked like he may repeat his quarter final heroics but it was not to be. It was towards the end of the first half that Ghana had the opportunity to stamp their authority on the game, with a penalty on the 41 minute mark, as goalkeeper Felipe Ovono was judged to have brought Kwesi Appiah down in the area. Jordan Ayew made no mistake with his shot from the spot and at that point the game took a turn. The hosts had their backs against the wall and they showed it in their body language and every tackle by the opposition seemed it could lead to a brawl and the referee and the linesmen had their work cut out keeping the on-field peace. From then on Ghana gained momentum, and the second half seemed to only have 1 team trying to score. The Celtic midfielder, Mubarak Wakaso’s strike after a fantastic piece of counter attacking, just after the half time break, not only put the game out of reach for Equatorial Guinea, it was also the 1500th goal in AFCON history.
After many opportunities to seal the game came the way of particularly Andrew Ayew and Appiah, they would get their 3rd in the 75th minute through that very Andrew Ayew, and that seemed to be the end of it. To be honest, I started to doze off, but was quickly back in it when I noticed almost the entire contingent of Ghanaian fans gathered behind the goal line. They were escaping missiles being thrown by the home fans and it took half an hour for peace to be restored so that the final 8 minutes of the game could be played. That, plus an extra 3 minutes of stoppage time, was all that remained and the final whistle sounded, leaving us with a bit of a sour taste in our mouths, and rather looking forward to Sunday’s final between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in Bata, which will be a repeat of the 1992 final which the Ivory Coast won on Penalties.
Why not relive the game with highlights, thanks to the guys at Supersport.com
Join us next week for a recap and fresh highlights from the AFCON 2015 final.
Top 5 All Natural Cleaning Products
I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of flack from my friends for posting an article about cleaning products. I can picture it now, the slaps on the back and name calling. Perhaps I’ll just say NO! when they want to come over to watch the game over the weekend; then we’ll see who has the power. You’re probably wondering why I’m writing this too, so I better go on and tell you. I like stuff to be clean. It’s as simple as that. You probably do too but you don’t go around making a big fuss about it and splashing it all over the internet. You should try it, it’s very liberating. And I would know! The real reason I’m into this right now is, as a dad, you’re always part of a clean up team, and most of it will just laugh back at you if you come at it with a paper towel and some water. It’s more of an evil snickering, to be exact. So, as 1 half of the Adults Cleaning Squad, I’ve employed the assistance of some serious stain-removing, germ-reducing, freshen-the-air-please products. The only problem is that it seems to come standard with noxious fumes and some of them make your skin itch, your eyes water, and I shouldn’t use them within 20 miles of food, pets, livestock, crops and of course, children. This doesn’t seem right. So, if I’m condemned to forever clean something, and clean it well, I’ll need to buy a biohazard suit or fear my lungs imploding and my skin leaving my frame, which seems like something best avoided. My next question then is, what do I have around my house that I don’t need to keep behind a steel door and 14 padlocks, that will clean the yuckies away? It seems what I put on my french fries and even in a stew can dissolve a mess and kill them dodgy bugs. Believe it or not, it’s true, and I’ve got it in my list of Top 5 Natural Cleaning Products.
#5: One of the keys in my list is not only to keep things safe, but also cheap, so starting us off is the humble Lemon Juice. It’s readily available, is probably going in your herbal tea anyway, but can be used to clean almost anything due to it being super acidic. This makes it a good disinfectant and you can rub half a lemon on your cutting boards to kill the germs or rub the lemon on your bathroom taps and other fittings to remove limescale. Let it sit for a few minutes and rinse with clean water. Mix lemon juice with some baking soda to make a paste and rub on brass or bronze to make it shine. Neat juice will take out mildew and mold too. Hard to believe, right? You’d better believe it!
#4: Baking Soda. You already know it goes well with lemon juice, but try mixing it with just plain water to score a bucket load of cleaning applications. To clean grime and burned food in your oven, just spray the inside of your oven with a fine mist of water and then pour baking soda onto the bottom of your oven, applying it in extra measure over the burn food bits. Use your finger to mix it into a paste and leave for an hour or so. Clean with a cloth and watch the grossness vanish. I’ve used it to remove odours in my refrigerator by pouring some of the powder into a small glass bowl and putting it in the back of my fridge. Goodbye garlic and onion smell! You can even sprinkle some into your stinky shoes. Odour-Be-Gone supremo!
#3: You add it to your stew but why not add it to your cleaning arsenal: Corn Starch. It’s great at freshening up your carpets as well as removing oil marks. Simply sprinkle it on your carpets and let it sit for 20 minutes, and then vacuum. Pour the corn starch onto a grease spot on your carpet, leave for 30 minutes and then vacuum. You can use a paste of corn starch mixed with water to clean your silverware too. Just wipe the paste off once you’re done and buff clean with a dry cloth. A corn starch and water paste can also soothe sunburned skin, just by the way!
#2: Hydrogen Peroxide. You might have this in your medicine cabinet to nuke the germs when you clean a cut or graze, but you can use it as a household cleaner as well. Look at us and our multipurpose products! Got a blood stain on a shirt, or a deep red tomato sauce stain on your table cloth? Squirt some H2O2 on there and watch it work its magic! Use it to wash your vegetables before rinsing them in water and chopping them up. No more insecticide residue! Pour some in a glass and soak your toothbrush in it to kill germs. Soak your kitchen sponge or cloths in it to get rid of the bacteria you will otherwise spread while you think you’re cleaning things!
#1. The undisputed king of the natural cleaning products is..drum roll please…White Vinegar! There is nothing as versatile, as cost effective in offering you 101 cleaning solutions or as readily available. You probably have some in your cupboard right now, don’t you, for putting on your french fries! There are so many uses I couldn’t even put them all down here, but I’ll tell you we use it at our house as a natural fabric softener. Put it in a spray bottle and undiluted, it makes a super cleaner for kitchen and bathroom surfaces. It helps remove wallpaper, can be used as a stain remover and makes the best glass cleaner. No streaks for days! It kill weeds, use it as a facial cleanser, to sooth bee stings, or even leave it in a burned-on pot to loosen the gunk and return it to it’s former glory.
After reading this, you may still love your chemical cocktails , but don’t bash my Top 5 list until you’ve given it a whirl. And when you have, why not let us know what you think, and if you have your own natural recipe for a potent cleaner, share it with us. You know at 1Africa, we love to help, but we also love to learn. Happy cleaning.